In one of its final gatherings before a new government is sworn in next month, the nine-member body heard city hall’s tax presentation at its meeting Tuesday night.
“Over the last five fiscal years, the residential values have increased consistently," said Assessor Jessica Lincourt. "This year, the entire residential category of value is $794,840,194, which is an overall increase of 6.9% in that category, not as horrifying as last year.”
Lincourt said that the city’s commercial values rose about 3.7% overall.
“This year's value for the commercial category: $122,393,342," she told the council. "Industrial category also went up a little bit, about 3.6% for a value of $25,514,800. And then personal property went up significantly. That category is up about 9.7%. That is due to a lot more personal property accounts, new accounts this year. We closed 17 from last year, but then we gained 30, which was really nice.”
Lincourt then turned to the 2024 tax base and growth summary.
“Last year, our new growth was only about 4.1 million this year," she said. "I'm happy to say it's $7,476,425 in value, which in tax dollars equates to about $247,787.”
The average single family residential value for 2024 is roughly $207,000, up from around $195,000 in 2023.
“Our tax rate we're suggesting is $17.14 per $1,000 for residential rate," Lincourt continued. "That would make the average single-family tax bill $3,544.45, which would be an annual increase of $103.85 for the average single-family homeowner. So, if you have a $400,000 house, not a $206,000 house, your bill might go up a little more. But if you have an $80,000 house, your bill probably won't go up as much. So, $103.85 a year, that equates to about $8.65 a month or 28 cents a day.”
The assessor then offered the city’s vision for the 2024 Commercial Industrial Personal Property shift — a continuation of the 2023 numbers.
“By choosing the 1.715 CIP shift, the residential category will be paying 63.8339% of the taxes," she said. "We don't have an open space category, that's why there's zero. The commercial category would be paying 20.8393% of the taxes, industrial category 4.3443% of the taxes, and personal property 10.9825% of the taxes for the city. And the residential factor would be .8089.”
Lincourt then compared 2023 and 2024 tax rates.
“Last year's residential open space tax rate was $17.67," she told the council. "And by choosing the shift of 1.715, the residential tax rate for this year would be $17.14, which is a reduction of 53 cents per $1,000. Commercial Industrial Personal Property- Last year, the tax rate for them was $37.60, and this year be $36.34, which is a reduction of $1.26. If we had a single tax rate, just so all of you know, you might not have this in your packets, a single tax rate would be $21.19 for this year.”
The assessor also answered questions she’d received from the public, including one about why short-term rental operators who list their properties on apps like Airbnb are classified and taxed in the commercial designation.
“Properties that are used for residential purposes, whether for short-term or long-term residential use, have to be classified as residential and taxed at the residential rate," explained Lincourt. "The argument is often the owners of Airbnb are making a profit by renting their properties. However, in a similar fashion, owners of a residential apartment building can also make a profit by renting their properties. We cannot classify and tax an owner of a residential property used an Airbnb differently than any other residential property owner. I did ask some other assessors about this also, just so you know, in other communities, just to make sure I wasn't missing something. We are all in agreement on this. If the Department of Revenue comes down with a different law or different standards, then we will alternate our course at that time. But right now, this is what we have to do.”
The council accepted the tax rate and shift differential in a 6-2 vote with Jennifer Barbeau and Wayne Wilkinson in opposition. Barbeau is not returning for the next city council session after choosing to not run for re-election.
First-term city councilor Michael Obasohan, who also did not seek re-election this year, was absent.
